So my MC let's use Amy for her name, wants to describe this really attractive guy, but she's really not big into the lovey lovey stuff, he's good looking but I don't know how to describe it without going Anime jawline on him. It's a fantasy romance novel but I don't want a really bad romance novel feel, ya know? So I need help!!!
The description needs to come from her, your character Amy. What does she find attractive about him? Not maybe just the way he looks, but what else? The way he moves, stands, smiles? What is her reaction to him? What causes that reaction? That's the key. Not everybody is going to have the same reaction to a laundry list of physical characteristics. What we will share are your character's thoughts and feelings.
Are they around each other a while? Make her aware of him more than others ,watching at random times and noticing specific "attractive" parts of the body. You don't need to say those things are attractive. I'm going to understand Amy thinks this anime jawline stud is sexy (subconsciously) if she notices the way his muscles move when he does certain activities.
"Why yes, I do find the pinkie nub on your left hand to be most arousing." She batted her eyes at him.
Reminds me of the passionate eroticism in the way James Joyce waxed on and on over his wife's "sexy" farts.
What does your character notice about people in general. When I meet someone I tend to look them straight in the eyes, so I notice that. Not just the colour or lashes or shape but what do the eyes hold in them. Are they bright and friendly looking? Or do they look away from me or look disinterested and aloof. Eyes say a lot about a person and what they are thinking. Others notice the mouth. But I don't tend to notice what a person looks like. My attraction to them comes from where there's any chemistry or not. So this is a hard question for me to answer.
She tends to notice everything, she's very observant, however she did not that his eyes showed disinterest and he had a hardened gaze towards her, he didn't show any reaction towards her.
I can't describe people's appearance without sounding like a really hungry fanfiction writer, so my advice is don't do that. Think of the person you find attractive. For me, we'll go with Keanu Reeves, because I would without hesitation say yes to whatever that man asked of me. We know what Keanu looks like. His eyes have seen a world of sadness, and yet when he smiles, the room brightens because of it. He brings an awkwardness to some social situations because he's such a private person, and being famous isn't really his cup of coffee, so he tends to shuffle his feet, or be very quiet. In his interviews he listens to the person asking the questions like he genuinely wants to answer. And maybe that's because he's such a good actor (shutupheis) but I choose to believe it's because he is truly kind toward everyone. He has the face of a stoic god, and the hands of a man who works with iron and steel. Maybe. I don't know. I've never held his hand, but I would. See? Fangirl. But maybe have your character see him like a fan girl would! Oooh, that borders the anime chin though.
I love the idea of attractive v. beauty/hott/normal. My story is about a guy, a moron, mind you, trying to be normal in a sex/appearance-obsessed (1980s) world of sculpted bods, plastic titties, blown up lips, and nose jobs. The standard of the day being shoved fingers and histrionic wailing of mags and VCR porn - which massively intimidates him. Not all guys find it attractive, but our dinosaur brain still looks at it. He's in conflict with his nature, so it's fun to throw visceral irony in his face. But, to the point. What is there (out of the trope) to find attractive, other than tropey hands, eyestalks, and hair? In my case, it's more about how the MC reacts when he finds something attractive: warm, sighing, panic, daydreaming, maternal/paternal, infectious smile, lit-up... Yes, he checks out her ass, but he's not necessarily proud of it, even if he likes what he sees and says so to the guys. Naturally, I throw it in his face. He is also a piece of ass by the standard of the day, and so I have to describe how the girls he sees react to what they find attractive about him. Perhaps you could think about it that way? What does he see her look at or react to? Can you show the reader what she sees without mentioning an object? "eyes moved" - Good. "eyes blue" - Bad. Try that. Let us into the world of the 'lookers' and 'lookees'. Love to know how you do with this!
This made me smile so much. The reason why I came here and made a thread about this was because the first sentence I wrote have something to do with a freaking jawline, so I tried describing him as a cold person towards her, he has "No" interest in her whatsoever, and she feels the same. (Lies). But eventually, I want her to start noticing natural things and have her and him warm up to each other, THAT'S I wanted to show their attractions towards one another, but that darn anime jawline!!!
That's an extremely helpful example, I'm going to implement this into my future writing, it's almost like saying, "Don't insult the readers imagination by drawing out an exact picture." So I love the way you think.
My MC isn't looking for love or sex, he's fleeing from it. Unfortunately, he doesn't know what he's actually running from - or straight into! I'm going for a parody of the trope, sorta. When the time comes, I'd love to see what you post.
What someone finds attractive will always be subjective, the biggest issue with a lot of western romance stories both in print and visual media is that they tend to stick to the age old tropes as others have already mentioned, I've been watching way too much Asian romance shows on netflix lately (climbing the walls during this lockdown) Most are told from the female MC perspective, the male MC most of the time doesn't show any interest towards the lady, however as the story progresses you actually find that he did in fact have an interest in the female MC, a common plot thread is a contract marriage, it starts out fake and ends up real by the end, the biggest selling point in each of those stories is how they execute the story without it being just a rehash of a different plot.
